Crazy Fish Today

Helping with the Captain's meeting for the AIGA Inshore Classic Tournament tonight so quick report,
again; 

Beautiful day, met Michael Williams and his friend and fishing partner Chris up at the Old Town Bait and Tackle boat ramp. We fished behind Tyger at the first stop, first of an incoming tide, jigs and live shrimp and mud minnows, but only caught a couple of bait stealers. Next stop was up to Jolley Bank, still fishing the jigs, Chris picked up a hungry Seatrout, Michael got a feisty Redfish. 

On up to Snook Creek, we switched to floats - Chris caught a keeper sized Black "puppy" Drum and Michael added another Redfish. Back to the outside of Tyger and things picked up. The duo caught a couple of more Redfish, a Couple of more Seatrout, and a couple of Flounder. They also had a strange Cigar Fish and a Sea Robin! Crazy fish! 

It was a beautiful day. We cruised Cumberland and were treated with a sighting of some wild horses and as we headed back to the ramp, we counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.

Slow But Steady OR He Wore His Lucky Hat

 We had another beautiful morning today when I met my cousin Adam Garner and his wife Patty down at the Sawpit Creek boat ramp early. The sun was just coming up as we turned into the intercoastal and made our way up thru the mouth of the Nassau River to make our first stop on a tide that was still going out. Adam and Patty began pitching jigs and live shrimp and mud minnows to a marsh runout as we eased along. Adam "knocked the skunk off" with a hard fighting Jack Crevalle then went back to an oyster bank and picked up a feisty Redfish. I thought we were going to do pretty good along there but that was the extent of the fish catching. We hit two more spots along that edge, had only a few nibbles, then moved on.

The next stop was down at Broward Island, fishing another run out. We were hearing and seeing some huge fish busting bait up along the shoreline but they weren't taking our offerings. I let the anchor go on the trolling motor so the boat would drift with the current and we worked along the bank and that did the trick. Adam picked up a hungry Seatrout out deep, then went in with

a float rig and got a Mangrove Snapper, adjusted his lucky hat, went back to the jigs and BAM! Big Hookup. Adam played it perfectly, worked it patiently to the net, and landed a nice Slot Sized 21" Redfish.

We moved down the way and fished up near a stump and here Patty honed her hookup skills by catching a handful of Mangroves, one of which was of keeper size, then Adam let his jig slide down the river bottom and out deep he had another strong bite, a hookup, and he landed a nice 17.5" keeper sized Seatrout.

Our final stop was back at some docks at Nassauville. We tangled with the ever present Mangroves and landed a few. Then Adam wrapped things up when he outsmarted a "nibbler", hooked and landed a keeper sized Sheepshead. Although the day hadn't been "on fire" we slowly put together a nice mess of fish so as we headed back to the dock we counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.

The Last 20 MInutes

 We gambled to day, fishing early in hopes that we wouldn't stay wet the whole day! The forecast wascalling for chances of rain in the 70% range all morning and when I left the bait shop it was already raining. But after I launched it had quit and all we had were sullen skies. I met Derek Kessler and his son Eli up at the Dee Dee Bartels Park boat ramp. We had a high tide right at launch so we bounced over to the outside of Tiger and eased up to the grass and began tossing float rigs with live shrimp. The current wasn't hardly moving yet but we had some good action early, caching a couple of feisty Redfish, a small Trout and then Eli put the first keeper in the boat, a fat Mangrove Snapper. 

After buzzing thru Horsehead, over to the Bell, and up Lanceford we ran to a small grass patch an dfished it with the float rigs. Not a bite. We eased over to Dave's dock, fished it for a bit and again, not a bite. We then motored out and back around to Soap Creek and set up fishing a large marsh run out. Derek put a hungry Trout in the boat right off. As we eased along the shore line to an oyster/grassy island things began to pick up The duo of anglers caught one feisty Redfish after the other, and a couple of fat Seatrout.

Our next stop was around at some docks, fishing the pilings after switching to jigs and shrimp. After Derek had made an excellent cast to the pilings, he had a strong bite and, BAM! Big fish on. Derek played it patiently, worked it out from the pilings, then applied the pressure and brought to the net a nice 4-spot Slot 21" Redfish. 

We were running out of time so we made one more stop back towards town, fishing some expose oysters with the jigs. We had a couple of Catfish caught then Derek, who had switched back to a float, saw his float go slowly under and he lifted, set the circle hook, and Fish On! Derek reeled in a nice 16" keeper sized Flounder. We eased on along the bank, tossing jigs to a nice run out and BOOM! Another big fish on. Derek played it to the boat and expertly landed a big 23" Seatrout, big enough to put him in the 3rd place in the Anglers Mark 2021 Bragging Rights Tournament-Seatrout Category. Boy what a fish. Those last two fish were caught within 20 minutes of wrapping up so as we headed in, we counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida 

Drum Roll

 I was out at Goffinsville Park this morning where I met Mark Dennis and his brother David early for abeautiful day of fishing the back waters of Amelia Island. We were not far from some docks so we eased over to them and set up current with plans to fish jigs and live shrimp to the pilings as the tide swept our bait up under the docks. It was only minutes when Mark hooked up, battled the fish, and landed a keeper sized Black "puppy" Drum.  From then on we were catching fish.

I tried my hand at "guessing the species" as the duo caught fish - David had a strong hookup - it didn't really run, but stayed on the bottom so I called "flounder". Nope, it was a big Jack Crevalle. Then David had another bite, Big Fish On! This one ripped some drag and tried to get back under the dock so I called "Redfish". Nope, Big Black Drum.  Then Mark got in on the action again with another hookup.  I called "Black Drum" but after successfully playing the fish to the net he landed the first Slot Redfish of the day. I had struck out!  We ended up catching 5 nice Black Drum, the Slot Red, the Jack, and a

handful of smaller Drum.

Our next stop was down at Broward Island. Here, David put a hungry Trout in the boat but it was nothing like yesterday. We moved down a bit, fished some logs, and after Mark had made an excellent cast to the downside of the current, BAM! He had a hookup. Mark worked it patiently to the boat and landed his 2nd Slot Redfish. We moved back to our original spot, fished the bottom with jigs, and David added a keeper Trout to the catch. Somewhere along there Mark added a Trout to round out his Amelia Island Back Country Slam.

We fished back at Nassauville at a couple of places, switching to float rigs at the last spot where we had a couple of bites but no takers, then wrapped the day up down at Spanish Drop. The sun was up and the temperature had warmed but we had a live well full of fish so we counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida. 

We Lost a Pound to the Gnats

 Yes, it was another beautiful morning as the sun came up out at Goffinsville Park, but with absolutely no wind  the "no-See-ums" were out to get their pound of flesh!  I had met the better half of the Barton crew - Blake and his son Blake, and Will early and after a quick run over to Pumpkin Hill we were fishing - drifting float rigs and live shrimp down the marsh line on the last of an incoming tide.  Fairly quickly both of the Blakes had hookups and landed Seatrout, then Blake The Younger added another. We worked that area over good then made the run back to Seymore's Pointe as the tide started back out. 

After fishing  a large outflow, some dock pilings, then another marsh line with the floats, we made the run down to Twin Creeks and here the action heated up.  Will and  Blake The Older began to get hookups on Seatrout on the float rigs and young Blake having switched to a jig and shrimp, began to catch them too. Young Blake had been keeping "score" but he soon found that it was futile to keep up - we were catching Trout one after the other.

Our next stop was down at Spanish Drop. After fishing some outflows, we eased along a flooded shell bank. Blake the Older had also switched to a jig and shrimp and had made an excellent cast up to the bank and, BOOM! Fish On! Blake played it perfectly and after a good battle, landed a nice Slot sized 20" Redfish. The trio continued on to catch a few more Trout, and Blake The Younger added a Flounder to his catch.  A nice Whiting was added to the box before we called it a day, another great one to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.

Good Start and Weather Improving

 

After a huge storm overnight the weather was forcasted to improve as today wore on, and it did. When I launched the boat early the skies were overcast but as I prepped the boat at Dee Dee Bartels I could see the west winds blowing the cloud cover east over the island and clear skies followed. By the time me, Scott and Peggy Dunlap left the ramp it was clear and the sun was coming up. Although we had to deal with 14mph winds most of the day, at least we had sunshine!

Our first stop was around behind Tiger and the duo of anglers began to pitch jigs and live shrimp. We eased along the bank and it was Peggy that "knocked the skunk off" with a feisty Redfish catch. We continued moving down the bank and picked up two more Reds, one of which was of keeper size.

We then ran thru the wind, heading west and fished some docks up Lanceford Creek. Although our first cast produced a good bite, and a hookup, after a brief battle the fish threw the hook. OUCH.  Later, we had the same thing happen at another dock.  We fished a grassy island further down Lanceford, then made the run up to Bell River and finished out the day fishing deep on the bottom for Trout, to no avail. 

The day turned out to be real pretty so we left enough time to make a run by Cumberland Island and see some of the wild horses lazing in the sun, then we called it a day, another great one to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.